Earth Chant/Yotzeir Or
Alisa Fineman
About Alisa Fineman
I am a singer and songwriter, cantor, prayer leader and celebrant. I strive to integrate Torah and Jewish wisdom teachings with my love for the earth and a sense of reverence and stewardship for our glorious planet, the garden that sustains, nourishes and provides us with so much. How can we better understand ourselves as the creatures we are, interdependent, in relationship with the land and all living things? As a songwriter and prayer leader, I’m always striving to explore and express my own sense of wonder and connection to the natural world, in hopes that it inspires others to do the same.
About Earth Chant/Yotzeir Or
I love Shabbat, especially because it’s all about getting back to the garden. Shabbat is the sacred instruction to cease from our creating and rest in the creation of the world, as Rabbi Heschel teaches. Shabbat is all about ceasing from work, coming home, letting go of our doing long enough to tap into the awareness of our own true nature. Shabbat is about taking time to dwell in the garden, to tend the garden of our souls. Prayer time, like Shabbat, is about taking the time to ponder eternal things, like where we come from and where we are going. It’s time out to pause and say, wow, and thank you. Our morning prayer, Yotzeir Or, teaches that the process of creation continues through us; with the grace and blessing of the Divine, we have the ability to create ourselves anew each day, and, in turn, makes this world a better place. It inspired this Earth Chant to remind us of our true nature, our connection to the land, that we are not only a part of creation, we are made of it.
